Miami Palms Blog

After a couple a strong season in 2008, Ryan Henning fell off severely in 2009. His home run total dropped by 6 and his batting average dropped by 30 points. The fact that he came up with the organization and is a well liked presence in the club house made the loss of Troy Tulowitzki, and his maintaining a starting spot somewhat easier to bear. Henning is a notoriously streaky hitter, hitting almost all of his home runs in 2009 in May. He needs to have more hot streaks in 2010 if he expects to help the Palms to where they want to be this season.

After his breakout season, the Palms are excited about the prospect of Jaspero Gonzalez playing shortstop every day for the Palms this season. If his first season in the league was a sign of things to come, scouts had the young Venezuelan pegged all wrong. He was originally thought of as a fielding prospect who had an unreliable bat but good speed. Well, he led all players in slugging percentage last year, including a surprising 6 homers and 10 doubles. His numbers will likely go down with more exposure in the lineup, but if he comes close to matching his numbers over the course of the season, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Young Felix Gonsales improved dramatically in his 4th year of Major League Baseball. The fireballer still throws too straight, and opposing hitters were able to hit .277 off of him, and struck out too rarely, however he was far and away the most accurate pitcher on the staff in 2009. In 68 innings pitched, he allowed only 7 walks. That ability demonstrates why the front office was so high on Gonsales as a starter when they signed him out of Venezuela. He has since been passed as a starting candidate, but some day down the road he could be a closer.

Josh Fields was swiftly becoming disenfranchised in Chicago. When he first came up, his position at third base was blocked by Joe Crede, then the ascension of Gordon Beckham assured that he wouldn't be sneaking up the depth chart any time soon, so he asked out. There are no promises in Miami either, especially with Martin Prado coming off a career year. He certainly hasn't proven himself with a bat yet, hitting only .229 for his career (.222 last season) with 31 homers in his career, including 23 in 2007. He will definitely be an asset coming off the bench when a home run might be needed, but probably not if a run needs to be manufactured.

The 2010 season couldn't have started any better for Billy Dupont. In just the second game of the season, he hit 4 home runs in a game, and seemingly was a surefire bet to be one of the top players in the league. He couldn't maintain the pace, however, hitting only 18 more homers for the rest of the year and saw his average slump to .287. He certainly has the tools to be a good player, even good speed on the basepaths (he hit 9 triples. second on the team) but an inability to take a walk is huting his statistics so far in his young career. He will likely drop some in the order with the emergence of Eddie Black and the rebound of Frank Sohn and Ayoz Sadan.

Steve Drysdale's option was picked up this season, and why not? The young outfielder surpassed everyone's expectations in his time in the field, hitting .337 and driving in key runs in key spots. In fact, his first career home run was a grand slam against the Orioles. He hasn't proved to be the fleetest of foot (he was the only player without a triple on the team) or the best fielding outfielder, so he will continue to come off the bench unless Coco Crisp proves to be too much of a liability, in which case Frank Sohn will shift back to his natural center field.

Coco Crisp has been the slick fielding center fielder for the Palms for the past couple of years, though his offensive statistics tailed off last year. He was a .320 hitter in 2008 but saw the average dip to .283 in 2009. He will hope to recover some of the stroke that made him such a vital component to the 2008 roster for the 2010 season, because Steve Drysdale is waiting in the wings should Crisp struggle this season.

Dallas Chastanet started the season as an unknown quantity. He had a few spot starts through 2008, but questions about his durability meant that he was put in as the 5th starter. He was, in fact, one of the more durable starters in the league, and threw the 2nd most innings for the Palms. His strikeout total was lower than the team would like, and his average against was nothing special. Somehow, however, he posted a 3.86 ERA and went 13-12 and earned himself the 4th spot in the rotation next year.

Buddy Carlyle, a failed starter, was a rousing success after his move to the bullpen. He quietly saved 44 games for the Palms in 2009 with a 3.31 ERA and only 5 blown saves. He anchored what started as a shaky bullpen with solid, efficient outings at the end of close games. He will continue to be the closer for the team, the first time in 3 years that the Palms have had the same closer for consecutive years. We should be happy: by most metrics, Carlyle was one of the top 5 closers in the league.